It wasn't meant to be this way, but I'm sort of glad that it is. Me and the wifey have the house to ourselves, with no roommates at the moment. Usually we would have two others here. I've had two roommates more or less continuously since mid 2001, with a lot of turnover (eight people in three years, not counting Kelli moving in). The best roommate I ever had and the downright strangest one have both left now. One left on his own after a year, and the other was asked to leave, in part because he was clinically psycho. So, until Kelli and I get the place tidied up and advertised, we have it to ourselves. I was sort of looking forward to having steady roommates in a time of change, but no.

On the first night of our return to home (Sunday), psycho roommate John had a mad episode where he was absolutely raging at his demons who apparently were genetically modifying him, and usually though a homosexual rape procedure. John was just over the top that night. We are used to him shouting, but this was bring broadcast throughout the neighborhood at 10:30. I called 911, like I have done on two or three other occasions like this. Now, what a way to get your marriage off to a start! Kelli and I had spent Sunday unwrapping all our gifts and decided to put most of the worthwhile and unique stuff into my studio where it could be locked up, lest John choose to avail himself of it in the last few days of his stay. Those fears were unfounded however, because he got carried off by the cops, to the county mental hospital. The next I saw of him was yesterday when he officially was out of a rental agreement. Since he was gone and we were done with him, we called his boss and asked him to take his stuff to where John could get it. John ended up getting out of the ward and came and got stuff himself. Now all I have to do is do odd things like figure out how to hide various screw holes where he screwed my vinyl framed windows shut, and also screwed the door shut. He was an odd bird. He'd lock the door when he took a few steps to the bathroom, or stacked toolboxes and a table against the door after locking it. He ate only sealed food, favoring cans of diced tomatoes, beets, pork and beans, and a shitload of ramen noodles. (I'd noticed he would open the ramen and eat only the flavoring.) Then there was the fact that he would go into the bathroom for nearly an hour, run the shower, then would purge himself with some dreadful sounding vomiting. He always had vitamins and supplements. I guess you need that if you are gonna give back all the food you eat. He was obsessive about cleaning the kitchen sink, but often left the bathroom a mess, and his room is an interesting place where he had no furniture but for two pieces I lent him. He had no bed. He slept fully clothed with the lights on. That is assuming he actually slept. He flogged himself. He only read the Bible, no doubt favoring the book of Revelation (he also had a few study guides laying around). He likes Bush. He was an alarm installer. Hmm... fear of genetic modification, love of apocalyptic literature, and a fear of nearly everything, and a professional security installer. Sounds like a good time.

Anyway, I shall see no more of him. Kelli was understandably scared of him, but he really was pretty harmless. He was really in his own little hell, and took it out on himself.

And now, for the last few nights, conveniently at the very start of our marriage, Kelli and I have all the house to ourselves. It has been a long time since I haven't had to share the place. I lived here alone for six months back in 2000-2001 between the time my grandmother had to go to the hospital and when my old man took over.

There is something very peaceful about this now. The lack of interruption is just blissful. I've grown accustomed to people coming and going, but there is something really satisfying when you can just sit down to dinner with your partner and eat, or close all the blinds and just go at it wherever and whenever the mood strikes. Kelli and I do okay with the two rooms we have to ourselves, but it is nice to take a break from such limited quarters, even though it's not like she stands a chance to get any poetry done with the extra space, and I have all but given up on music, despite having the space available since day one.

The problem now is one that I already have had to deal with, but at a smaller scale. Kelli and I have enough stuff to fill this house, and we do just that. With the exception of the rental rooms, the whole place is filled with my furniture that I inherited or collected, and a bunch of knicknacks, and frankly, a lot of stuff. And now we have more and more stuff from all the wedding gifts. It's like we have been married for a few decades. So really, any prospective roommate doesn't need much but their own stuff to sleep on. I sort of wonder if having all this stuff affects the selection of roommates, eliminating the ones that see there is no place for their stuff, and leaving me with the dudes who are not really going to stay for a while because for the most part, all they have is a room full of stuff, and one room is the same as the next. And now I am afraid of people stealing stuff that will be more and more sentimental to Kelli and me. I could tolerate a little loss or breakage before, but now that will be a more frustrating thing should it happen. There was a roommate who left early last year who tried to make off with some of my stuff. Nothing precious, but I caught him and took my stuff back, and replaced it with a couple dirty and bug-covered bricks taken from a pile in my back yard. He never told me how that went down upon getting to his new place. I got him good, but it made me even more paranoid about sharing stuff, just as a bachelor.

Yesterday, I had dinner ready and waiting for Kelli to get home from a reading. It was my ever-improving chicken stir fry and rice. I totally nailed it. Had some wine at the ready, and when Kelli got home, we were at the table in just a few minutes, house totally silent, dark but for a bunch of candles scattered about, and the delicious scent of garlic and stir fry wafting about in the house. All we had to do was just enjoy being with each other, and we did. No distractions. Sweet. I plan to savor it while it lasts.